eBay Australia Launches In-Store Pick Up Service

eBay Australia today announces it has brought its In-Store Pick Up functionality to the Australian market. The service, available now, has been hugely successful with consumers and retailers in the US and UK and is scoped to be well-received in Australia – with almost 1 in 3 online shoppers having used a similar service already despite limited options, and almost half saying they would use the service if it was available to them*.

Launching in line with the busy holiday trading period, the functionality effectively extends the online Christmas trading window which traditionally drops off in early December. It enables customers to purchase gifts via eBay.com.au and pick them up in the respective retailer’s store, potentially on the day of purchase, cancelling out concerns about Christmas delivery times.

In-Store Pick Up has been launched with The Good Guys, Dick Smith, Supercheap Auto, BCF, Cincotta Chemist, and Masters. More big retailers will launch in-store pickup in time for Christmas.

Shoppers can schedule in store pick up orders over the Christmas period right up until 23 December.

Tim MacKinnon, eBay Merchant Development Director says: “The launch of eBay’s In-Store Pick Up initiative in Australia has been a key priority for us, not only because it enhances the experience for our shoppers, but also because it helps our retail partners get more traffic into their stores and leverage the advantages they have over overseas retailers.

“The Australian consumer is particularly savvy with unique behaviours that demand constant innovation. We know that the eBay shopper in Australia spends more as percentage via mobile than any other eBay market, meaning they are always shopping on the go. If they can purchase something on the train on the way to work and pick it up in their lunch break we are taking some of the friction out of the shopping process and creating more opportunities for our retail partners to best service their needs.

“The issues of delivery and convenience are effectively solved for many customers with this offering.”

Research has shown that the main reasons for using this service include saving on delivery and shipping, securing a deal and timeliness:

Don’t want to pay delivery and know I’ll be near a store – 54%

Need an item in a hurry – 36%

Don’t want to go to store and find they have sold out – 34%

There are over 50 major retailers in Australia offering in-store pickup. We expect many of them to launch in-store pickup on eBay because it is the most cost effective way to drive traffic into their stores

*Research conducted in July this year by the eBay.com.au shipping innovation team